Discussion about the Korg PolySix synthesizer

Hi there,

I have been offered a Poly-6 at a half decent price but it will be
bought sight unseen with the old battery still in there and the
following problem: "on the poly setting in that it doesn't play
chords properly (misses some notes). All the other settings (mono
etc) work fine."

Firstly, has anyone encountered this poly setting problem before. Is
it a battery-ooze problem or a dirty keys problem or could it be
something else?

Secondly, if I can get the guy to drop the price to £100
($150?) - in your opinion, is it still worth taking the risk?

Finally, I have a tame electronics expert who's happy get into the
guts of the machine. I have found Old Crow's schemetics and
instructions (nice website Mister O. Crow!!!) and he's happy wioth
those. One more question - anyone got any idea how easy it is to get
hold of replacement components if they need replacing?

All I want is a broad overview from people more experienced than me;
and I won't hold it against you if I end up with a crocked machine!

cheers

Frank Blades

> "on the poly setting in that it doesn't play chords properly (misses

some notes).

This could be one of a number of things. Including dead filter chips.
Not that easy to get hold of, and quite expensive. How many notes are
missed? If its only one, its still worth getting it for £100. You should
be able to play six notes maximum (!)

>Is it a battery-ooze problem or a dirty keys problem or could it be

something else?

Dirty keys would show up in chord memory/unison mode. Battery ooze...
don't think so, but it does do the most strange of things.

>Secondly, if I can get the guy to drop the price to £100...

Don't pay more than £100 for it.

>Finally, I have a tame electronics expert who's happy get into the guts

of the machine.

I hope he's a good friend. The battery replacement can be a long job.
Typically towards a day to do it properly, but it very much depends on
the damage. I have seen four now, and all took between four to eight
hours.

The rest of the parts are all available from various sources, although
finding a replacement u-proc would be difficult, although Crow was
having a bash at doing one. Any luck with that one Scott?

Regards,

Tony Allgood Penrith, Cumbria, England

Oakley Sound Systems www.oakleysound.com
Modular projects www.oakleysound.com/projects.htm

On Tue, 11 Jun 2002, Tony Allgood wrote:

> I hope he's a good friend. The battery replacement can be a long job.
> Typically towards a day to do it properly, but it very much depends on
> the damage. I have seen four now, and all took between four to eight
> hours.

I am working on a KLM-367 now that so far has over 20 hours of work
done. It is _the_ worst case I have ever seen. Even so, I think it can
be revived. I really need to get to making a new PCB layout to replace
these basket cases...

> The rest of the parts are all available from various sources, although
> finding a replacement u-proc would be difficult, although Crow was
> having a bash at doing one. Any luck with that one Scott?

The EPROM version of the processor, an 8748(H), is still available,
though of course it has no program loaded to make it the "KLM-367 CPU". I
have the code file for the KLM-366 key assigner CPU (use an 8749(H)) which
is also the exact same program for the Mono/Poly key assigner. Attach a
switch for unison/share on a Polysix and you can get that mode--only for 4
of the voices, however. I also have the code file for the KLM-367 patch
manager CPU, which is also the same code for the KLM-380 (Trident Mark II)
patch manager CPU. I keep forgetting to copy the files over to my web
server as they are on an un-networked workbench PC, but I'll remember
eventually. :)

Programming an 8748 or 8749 is no big deal, provided one has a device
programmer that can handle these. The 8749 can be used in place of an
8748 on the KLM-367, incidentally. The only difference is the '49 has
twice the memory of the '48. All other functions are the same.

Crow
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